Into the Woods
by fourthwallwindow
Summary: The Final Battle wasn't final. Harry Potter has returned to Hogwarts to find it under attack once again. This story is written from the point of view of five girls - Liz, Ellie, Diana, Sam, and Emi - as they fight to protect the castle they call home.


**_This story was written as a gift to friends. My apologies if it's hard to understand at first - it's my hope that it makes sense by the end of the story._**

* * *

Chapter One

Snitches Get Stitches

Elizabeth desperately attempting to dodge, wincing as the curse meant for her shattered the marble pillar behind her. The female's daring eyes sparkled, her mouth curling into a thin smile that was soon followed by a loud laugh.

"Come on, cowards!" Liz barked, adrenaline coursing through her veins, "Are you trying to miss? At least make it fun for me!"

"Liz, get DOWN!" Elvira's booming voice cut through the sounds of battle as a slashing curse almost took Liz's ear. She felt it sting her cheek and could feel a trickle of blood trace her face, but she didn't care. She could still fight. The alder wand silently shot spell after spell, and Liz felt a thrill go up her spine as the stunners hit their target.

"Idiot!" Elle muttered, crouching behind the stone pillar. Liz turned to her friend, ruddy blond hair lying flat against her back. Dark eyes sparkled through her glasses.

"I thought you were a Gryffindor?" She teased her American friend.

"I am. I just also have a sense of self preservation. See, this is how we get the reputation of bein' reckless." Ellie stated.

Liz rolled her eyes. "Alright, get ready for the next wave. You cover the corridor-"

"-And you'll get the staircase." Ellie finished, looking down the hall. The sounds of scurrying feet indicated that they weren't far off. Her hand reached for her friend's. "Liz? Don't die. And if you do… Make it count."

"You know I will." The gaze of the two friends met briefly, before they took off, running in separate directions.

Ellie's Cypress wand seemed to shoot spells of its own accord. Which, having a phoenix feather core, it might actually do. Her eyes were focused as she cast a vast number of offensive and defensive spells. Both Gryffindor's were covered in blood, sweat, and crumbled pieces of the castle they were fighting to protect. Ellie almost blamed Harry for the destruction of the castle she'd come to know as home. It was his return that had caused the vengeful remaining followers of the dark lord to attack. Even the American – an exchange student for Salem's witch's academy 0 felt that a piece of her heart was breaking with every piece of the castle that fell.

Liz, strangely, didn't seem to be quite as affected as Ellie was, despite having practically lived there for the past six years. It may have been the thrill of the fight that the Gryffindor seemed to live for that kept her from being angry with The-Boy –Who-Lived, or it could simply be the respect she had for him. Ellie didn't know.

Ellie caught sight of three death eaters, smiling as they came into view. Three stunners were sent from her wand, and she cursed as a powerful shield charm sent all three back at her. She flung herself to the side, a stunner coming so close to her that she could almost feel the spells aura. Her glasses were flung from her face as she tried to dodge them all.

Fighting blind, the Gryffindor stumbled backwards, hands searching for the glasses that she'd lost. For the first time, the Gryffindor felt fear. She might not be able to dodge in time. She might lose. She might just die.

"Liz, LOOK OUT!" She shrieked, defending herself the best she could from her position. Her friend was now in the most danger, being attack from both sides.

Liz had just sent a stunner up the staircase, and deftly swirled to find a wand pointed at her chest. She raised her own, watching the man form the words. It was useless. He was going to kill her. She could see his lips forming the words that would be her death sentence and her eyes hardened. She was a Gryffindor. If she had to die, she was glad she was dying like a Gryffindor – fighting.

"Avada k"

"RICTUSEMPRA!"

The frantic spell came from further up the staircase, slamming into the male's chest and pushing him backwards against the floor. Elizabeth stunned the death eater that Ellie was desperately trying to fight off, before turning to see the one who'd saved her life. Emiline stood, perfectly stilly, eyes wide as she viewed the hysterically giggling death eater. Liz raised an eyebrow.

"Tickling charm?"

"I panicked."

"That, shield charm, and the summonin' charm are her three crutch spells." Ellie's eyes were cold as ice as she found her glasses and put them back on her face. "We're just lucky she didn't decide to use Accio."

Liz laughed slightly. "I guess.'

"Sticking charm not working?" Emi asked, looking at the glasses sliding down her friends faces. She tapped her wand against the metal frames, silently changing that before offering a satisfied smile. "There."

"Thanks." Ellie didn't look grateful. She looked murderous. "Out of the way, Liz." Her mouth was a hard line, anger in every part of her face. She had almost lost one of her best friends. She wasn't going to do that again. Liz obediently moved out of the way, allowing Ellie to approach the laughing death eater.

The male was still trying to cast the killing curst, while clutching his rib cage he was laughing so hard. "Av… Avada…. Av… Ked…" He gasped out between fits of laughter.

"Avada Kedavra!" The green light left the female's wand and struck the Death Eater in the Chest. She smiled. "Is that what you were gonna say?"

Liz's eyebrows rose. She'd never seen her friend that angry. Emiline's eyes widened almost comically, and her jaw dropped.

"That's unforgiveable!" She pointed out in a horrified whisper.

"Who you gonna tell? 'Member – snitches get stitches."

Emiline paled as Liz let out a bark-like laugh.

"Don't worry, she's just kidding. I think."

Emiline was not comforted by those words. Her eyes were worried. Liz shook her head – they'd address this action later.

"I thought that you'd decided to stay in the hospital wing? What happened? Inner Gryffindor decide that you couldn't let others do all the fighting?" Liz smiled.

Emi's face became grave. "It's gone."

"Gone?"

"They rook it. We held out as long as we could, and move most of the wounded to the great hall. I decided I needed to find you, because… um…" She stuttered, American accent thickening in her reluctance.

"What?" Liz pressed.

"The… the herbology… I mean, not herbology… the greenhouse…"

"Emi, what happened?" Ellie demanded.

"We're cut off." Emi said quickly. "And no one has seen Di-"

"We're leavin'. Now." Ellie hissed, sounding as deadly as the killing curse.

"We'll cut through the court yard. Send Harry a Patronous to tell him." Liz stated, her eyes moving to Emi. "I know you're not one for this sort-"

"No, I know you two well enough to know that one of you will need medical attention very soon, if you don't need it now. I'm coming too. If I see anything scary, I'll hide behind Elle, I don't care that I'm supposed to be a Gryffindor." Emi promised.

Elle's fingers tightened around her want.

"Let's go."

* * *

"Diana – quickly, dear, grab the mandrakes. Patrounous your friends and tell them not to approach without ear muff's or they may find themselves in a rather unpleasant situation." Professor Spout commended.

Diana nodded briskly, quickly moving to cast the spell. She smiled at the small bunny that hoped hesitantly away from her wand, turning and tilting its head as it looked up at its caster. Diana smiled warmly at the tiny wispy creature. "Off you go, love."

As her patronous hopped away, Diana hurried to gather as many mandrakes as she could; securing the fluffy pink ear muffs around her ears in case she accidentally pulled one from its pot. She joined Professor Spout's side, looking at the rows and rows of Devil's Snare, mandrakes, and fanged geranium they'd placed as a barrier around the greenhouse, watching green and red sparks flying up from the burning remnants of the castle.

"Will we be alright, Professor?" She asked, trembling slightly. Professor Sprout looked down at her, her eyes full of motherly concern.

"We'll try, dear." She said, patting her young student on the head gently. "We'll try."

* * *

"Oh! Look! Their Quidditch pitch is one of the oldest in Europe!" Emi's fingers tightened on the slip of paper. The brochure was entitled "Hogwarts" and supposedly offered all the information available about the school she would attend.

Her friend looked out the window of the train, watching the foreign scenery pass by. He friend had been spouting historical facts about the place they were headed to since they'd been on the train, and she was getting tired of it.

"Oh, joy, you know, that's exactly why I wanted to go here. An old Quidditch pitch." Ellie deadpanned. Emiline's eyes narrowed.

"I don't think you're sincere."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"You're welcome, Lieutenant Sarcasm." Emi's eyes rolled as she quietly sank down in her seat. "You could at least pretend to be excited."

"I'm sorry, Emiline. I really am excited. Just. More about Quidditch than the pitch it's gonna be played at. You know what I'm really excited about?"

"If you say spiders I will roll this brochure up and hit you with it repeatedly."

"Acromantula's." Ellie grinned.

True to her word, the brunette rolled up the brochure and whacked Ellie's shoulder with it. Her friend smiled.

"What? I didn't say spiders, just… one spider in particular…"

"That's why I hit you once, instead of repeatedly."

"Come on… there have been rumored sightin's of them in the forbidden forest for almost fifty years…"

"I highly doubt that they're there. Do I need to remind you how many wild acromantulla encounters in the past six hundred years have occurred? Three hundred and twenty six. And do you want to know how many of those didn't end in an excruciatingly painful death, or maiming? Twelve. In six. Hundred. Years. There is no way one of those things live anywhere near Hogwarts."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Betcha you're wrong."

"I just don't want you to be disappointed."

"I'll only be disappointed if I'm wrong."

"And if you're right, you're dead."

"You don't believe me." The brunette pushed her glasses up farther on her nose, blue eyes sparkling in anticipation. "I will find one. One day." She promised.

"I wish you happiness and the best of luck on your search for your demise." Emiline sighed.

Ellie smiled. "Okay. Somethin' we can agree is good. Diana's there."

"Your sister?"

"Hun, we don't know another Diana."

"Just checking… you know who else will be there?"

"Who?"

"Harry Freaking Potter. The secret savior of all of Europe." Her eyes danced. "We will walk the exact halls that he does. We could bump into him! He could drop his quill one day, and we could pick it up, unknowing that it's the quill of Harry Freaking Potter, and return it to him, and he'd turn around, and be Harry Potter, and we'd be holding Harry Potter's quill, without even knowing it. It would be GREAT." She sighed, smiling.

"Yeah. My reason for goin', right there.-"

"Are you kidding? Harry Potter is to Hogwarts as… as… As Aslan is to Narnia. As cocoa is to Nutella. As Opossum are to native North American marsupials! Except. Opossum are the only native North American marsupials. And Hogwarts would still exist without Harry Potter. But all of my other analogies are solid! Without Harry Potter, Hogwarts would be completely different – and probably suck, or be ruled by a white witch, or be hazelnut and skim milk."

"Down, rabid fangirl." Ellie started.

"I am not a rabid fangirl. Geez, what is with people about that? Collect three dozen newspapers, and suddenly, you're a 'rabid fangirl'…"Emiline rolled her eyes.

"Alright. Down would-be-rabid-but-got-shots-so-it's-okay fangirl." Ellie chuckled. Emiline narrowed her eyes at her friend, but said nothing.

"I've heard that they're very blood status centered in England." Em ran a hand through her hair, glancing out the window. "I don't know how we'll fit in. I don't even know much of my blood status. I mean. I think my father's mostly pureblood? And Mom's halfblood? So I'm not muggle born." She looked towards Ellie. "Do you think this will be hard?"

"England's different, but not really worse. They ain't gonna send you back 'cause you don't know your blood history."

"I just don't want to be ridiculed." Emi leaned back.

"Well. You could say you're pureblood, if you wanna."

"Are you going to?"

"Em, I ain't gonna lie. They ask my blood status, I'll tell'm. They laugh at me – they're gonna lose teeth."

Emi's eyes widened and she sat very still. Ellie laughed.

"How is it that we've been friends two years and you still don't know when I'm kiddin' you?"

"You say it in a very serious tone." Emi said quietly.

Emiline startled as the train screeched to a halt, wincing at the sound of the brakes. She stood nervously. Elvira smiled at her friend, standing.

"Welcome to Hogwarts."

* * *

Elizabeth's eyes watched as the hooded figures rushed past them, hardly daring to breathe. Perhaps they wouldn't look her way? They were well hidden. Diana was curled up into a ball, eyes frightened, her head resting on her twin sister's lap. Elvira's eyes were on Liz, waiting for the signal, the wand grasped tightly in her hand. Liz looked towards Ellie, shaking her head in response to the slightly raised eyebrow. She waited until the figured were out of sight before nodding once. It would be okay to whisper now.

The first noise she heard was a whimper from Emi, as she nursed what was probably a broken leg – or at the very least sprained. She smiled, eyes too bright, when she felt Diana's hand comfortingly touch her own hand.

"I'm fine." She whispered in a falsely cheery voice. "Really. Just a scratch. I'll just hop back on to the hospital wing."

"That's more than a scratch, honey-child." Samantha's voice whispered. Liz turned to her friend from Hogwarts. "You're not going to be able to get back there without being caught, anyway. The woods are crawling with death eaters."

"And Acromantulla." Ellie added. "You're stuck."

Emi's eyes welled with tears that she refused to let fall. "I just-"

"It will be okay, Em." Liz whispered, before turning to the skinny brunette next to her. "Sam, you and I can help her walk. We'll all get through this. No one gets left behind." Her voice was soft, but determined. "The battle hasn't been won yet."


End file.
